Fullerene-containing materials have the ability to store and release electrical energy.
Therefore, fullerenes may ultimately find use in high-voltage equipment devices or as super
capacitors for high electric energy storage due to this ease of manipulating their excellent
dielectric properties and their high volume resistivity. A series of structured fullerene (C60)
polymer nanocomposites were assembled using the thiol-ene click reaction, between alkyl
thiols and allyl functionalized C60 derivatives. The resulting high-density C60-urethane-thiol-ene
(C60-Thiol-Ene) networks possessed excellent mechanical properties. These novel networks were
characterized using standard techniques, including infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential
scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and thermal gravimetric analysis
(TGA). The dielectric spectra for the prepared samples were determined over a broad frequency
range at room temperature using a broadband dielectric spectrometer and a semiconductor
characterization system. The changes in thermo-mechanical and electrical properties of these novel
fullerene-thiol-ene composite films were measured as a function of the C60 content, and samples
characterized by high dielectric permittivity and low dielectric loss were produced. In this process,
variations in chemical composition of the networks were correlated to performance characteristics. |
